WBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[lmitzel]

NCC opens its season with a 76-60 win over St. Mary's at Merner. Slow start, but figured it out by the end of the first and slowly pulled away as the game went on. Really the only thing that kept this close was the Belles going 9-24 from beyond the arc.

Jocelyn Trotter: 14 pts, 10 reb, 5 ast
Ameli Sanchez: 14 pts, 4 reb
Biz Daly: 13 pts, 9 reb
Dolly Smith: 7 pts, 10 reb, 5 ast

One game is a small sample size, but I like what I saw tonight.

[lmitzel]

Make it 2-0 with a 73-50 win at Concordia Chicago tonight.

NCC led wire to wire, though it was close for the first 12 or so minutes. A 13-0 run midway through the second effectively ended any shot the Cougars had.

Biz Daly: 22 pts, 7 reb
Care Uhren: 14 pts, 6 reb
Natalie Doyle: 13 pts, 5 reb
Jocelyn Trotter: 8 reb

Cardinals are at Lawrence on Friday.

[iwu70]

The Titans open the season this morning -- 10 a.m. game due to all the games, activities at The Shirk today.  IWU vs. Trinity (TX).  Some injuries hitting the Titan roster. 

Here we go . . .

'70

[Green Beer]

I went to the Texas Trinity/ IL Wesleyan game this morning. The teams are similar in that there was a ton of rotation and heavy reliance on freshmen. They're trying to find the secret sauce for this year. Titans got out to a 10 point lead and maintained that for the majority of the game winning 63 to 73. As IWU70 mentioned, 6 players injured, not playing, including senior L. Mulham and freshmen Sears and Hynes. I mention them because they're very likely to be part of the future rotation. They'll play Whitewater tomorrow. Freshmen Asia Kobylarczyk (9 points )and Caitlin Leyden (8 points) had a ton of minutes and played with confidence. FYI, Asia is pronounced "asha", rhymes with "tasha"

[iwu70]

Yes, the Titans get the season going on a winning note.  Lots of new faces, and some reliable old ones too -- Bardic, Balli and White

For Trinity:

Sauageau 15
Minter 11

For IWU:

Bardic 22
Balli, a nice double/double 13 & 12
Lipic, a very solid game off the bench, 12 & 8
Kubylarczyk (can I really spell her name??) 9
Leyden 8 & 11
White 8, with 4 steals (but 9 TOs)   

The two newbies from Maine South -- Kubylarczyk and Leyden -- started and will surely be good CCIW players, improving quickly along the way. 

As mentioned, 5-6 Titans on crutches, in boots, in civies . . . so the injury bug hitting hard and early. 

Starting line-up was Bardic, Balli, White, Leyden and Kubylarczyk.  Lipic and Robinson first off the bench -- Epps getting playing time in the rotation too.

Well, a start.  Lots to sort out, lots to improve.  This group is not full of shooters . . . unlike last year.  But, they got it done today with good pressure defense, and a nice surge when it was needed to close out the game. 

UW Whitewater will be a greater challenge tomorrow, assuming they won their game over the Big Blue at mid-day.

IWU'70

[iwu70]

IWU faded in the 4th, losing to Whitewater, 60-51. 

When your best shooter has an off night, you are in trouble, and that was true with IWU and Bardic this afternoon.  The game went back and forth, IWU up 9, UWWW up 7, tied after 3Q.  But then, IWU had TOs, shot clock violations, the three new freshmen in the lineup playing under pressures of a stronger team and making mistakes, missing shots.  It was sad at the end.  A lost opportunity. Give credit to WW's defense and their strength of offense in the paint.

For UWWW:

Gillas 22
Rittmeyer 12 and 11
McCurdy 10

WW shooting 45% from the field due to much scoring by bigs in the paint, with 32 points in the paint.  Always an IWU problem vs. WW.  Only 8-13 from the FT line.

For IWU:

Lipic 14 and 7 off the bench, named to the All-Tournament team for her good weekend.
White 12 w/ 4 steals
Bardic 11, but really a tough day for her
Balli 11

IWU shooting only 35% from the field and 4-16/25% from three.  7-8 from the charity stripe.

IWU losing the TO battle, with little impact by "run and jump" as yet.  TOs 18-19 in favor of WW.

IWU to 1-1 on the year, heading for Devos next weekend to play Franciscan and Hope. 

This team does not have many shooters and will need to play better defense and take care of the ball better.  The freshmen will take time working into the system and learning the speed and physicality of college level, D3 level play with strong, big opponents like WW.

IWU'70

[iwu70]

In the first game at The Shirk today, the Big Blue of Millikin got a nice win over Trinity (TX), with the score, 61-54. 

'70